Germany won a World Cup luge team relay on Sunday, with Austria finishing second. That’s not exactly breaking news. Those nations have the top two luge programs in the world right now.
The news was Ukraine finishing third — and how the war-torn nation got there.
Ukraine won its first World Cup luge medal in more than 16 years. The country’s relay team — singles sliders Yulianna Tunytska and Andriy Mandziy, along with Ihor Hoi and Nazarii Kachmar on one doubles sled, Olena Stetskiy and Oleksandra Mokh on the other — finished third in a race at Sigulda, Latvia.
“It’s amazing,” Tunytska said, holding a bouquet of flowers and blowing kisses on the award podium afterward.
The medal came in a very unconventional way. There were seven teams in the relay, and four of them didn’t finish. Ukraine finished almost four seconds back of Germany’s winning time — four seconds …